Cartouche
, Karnak, Egypt.]] In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh. While the cartouche is usually vertical with a horizontal line, it is sometimes horizontal if it makes the name fit better, with a vertical line on the left.http://artyfactory.org/egyptian_art/cartouche_lesson/cartouche_lesson.htm The Ancient Egyptian word for it was shenu, and it was essentially an expanded shen ring. In Demotic, the cartouche was reduced to a pair of parentheses and a vertical line. Of the five royal titularies it was the throne name, also referred to as prenomen, and the "Son of Ra" titulary,Ancient-egypt.org the so-called nomen, i.e., the name given at birth, which were enclosed by a cartouche.Allen, James Peter, Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, Cambridge University Press 2000, p.65 At times amulets were given the form of a cartouche displaying the name of a king and placed in tombs. Such items are often important to archaeologists for dating the tomb and its contents.cf. Thomas Eric Peet, William Leonard Stevenson Loat, The Cemeteries of Abydos. Part 3. 1912-1913, Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 1402157150, p.23 Cartouches were formerly only worn by Pharaohs. The oval surrounding their name was meant to protect him from evil spirits in life and after death. The cartouche has become a symbol representing protection from evil and good luck.http://www.dcsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=541292 Egyptians believed that if you had your name written down in some place, then you would not disappear after you died. If a cartouche was attached to their coffin then they would have their name in at least one place.http://egypt.mrdonn.org/cartouche.html There were periods in Egyptian history when people refrained from inscribing these amulets with a name, for fear they might fall into somebody's hands conferring power over the bearer of the name.Alfred Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, Adamant Media Corporation 2001, ISBN 1402193661, pp.293-295 Etymology The name cartouche was first applied by soldiers who fancied that the symbol they saw so frequently repeated on the pharaonic ruins they encountered resembled a muzzle-loading firearm's paper powder cartridge ( in French).White, Jon Manchip, Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt, Courier Dover 2002, p.175 Hieroglyph use of cartouche, and half-cartouche In the Rosetta Stone, the cartouche hieroglyph is used for the word "name", Egyptian rn.Budge, 1929, 1989. The Rosetta Stone, p. 124-169. For the cartouche cut in half, the "half-cartouche hieroglyph", Gardiner's sign listed no. V11, (the cartouche hieroglyph is V10), is used in the Egyptian language for words meaning: "to cut, to divide, to separate"' See also * Cartouche (hieroglyph) * Shen ring References ;General *Budge. ''The Rosetta Stone, E.A.Wallace Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1929, Dover edition(unabridged), 1989. (softcover, ISBN 0-486-26163-8) ;Specific External links * Category:Egyptian hieroglyphs Category:Ornaments Category:Ancient Egyptian symbols ca:Cartutx egipci cs:Kartuše da:Kartouche de:Hieroglyphenkartusche es:Cartucho egipcio eo:Kartuŝo eu:Kartutxo egiptoar fr:Cartouche (hiéroglyphe) gl:Cartucho exipcio he:קרטוש ko:카르투슈 io:Kartusho is:Bókrolluskreyti it:Cartiglio hu:Kártus nl:Cartouche (Egypte) ja:カルトゥーシュ no:Kartusj pl:Kartusz (hieroglif) pt:Cartela ru:Картуш (Египет) sk:Kartuša (egyptológia) fi:Kartussi uk:Картуш